Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Several cases have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
